it's also december 1st, alex, and we have exactly one month now to avert the fiscal cliff and avert what everybody agrees would be economic catastrophe. of course that combination of $500 billion, a half a trillion dollars in extra taxes for americans, about $2200 just next year alone for the average family. $100 billion in spending cuts, automatic spending cuts, part of that sequester, from the deal that we went through last year that we took right up to the last minute. so, there are two things that are clear here after the president's proffer, one the president and the white house feel as though they have the upper hand here, there's no question about it. number two, they're playing hardball. number three, i'll add a third one, we are in the preliminary stages, believe it or not, as we enter this final month. here are the basic outlines of what the president is proposing, $1.6 trillion in new revenues. of course most of that, or at least a little better than half of it comes from raise being taxes on the top 2%, something the president campaigned on, something that the white house is